As the refugee crisis in Europe and ongoing Syrian war continue to dominate news headlines, many countries struggle with conflict and natural disaster largely out of sight—and largely on their own.

Rohingya refugees are risking their lives for a safe place to call home. 60 people drowned on Sep. 29 when a boat carrying Rohingya Muslims fleeing from violence in Myanmar sank off the coast of Bangladesh.

The International Rescue Committee and Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organisation behind Sesame Street — are working together to give millions of young refugees and other children in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and northern Iraq whose lives have been affected by war the support they need to learn, grow and thrive. 

The issue of how the global community can effectively address forced displacement is prominent on the international agenda. Displacement levels are the highest ever recorded with roughly 65 million people forcibly displaced around the world, including over 21 million refugees, three million asylum-seekers and over 40 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Netflix’s Transatlantic is based on a historical fiction book that tells the story of Varian Fry and his team’s work evacuating refugees from Vichy France during World War II. Their legacy is a central part of the IRC’s foundation. Find out more about our origin story and the inspiration behind Transatlantic here.

This report outlines the findings from an assessment of ServiceInfo and Refugee.Info, drawing on perspectives and reflections from stakeholders across the humanitarian spectrum, including affected populations themselves.

Humanitarian aid to refugee and internally displaced people (IDPs) has increasingly shifted from rural and camp environments to urban areas in recent years, with 60% of all refugees and 80% of all IDPs currently living in urban areas. Risks of violence for displaced persons in camp-based humanitarian settings are well documented and include gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and forced marriages, as well as a number of other forms of inter-communal violence, discrimination, and denial of resources, assistance, or assets. However, little is known about types and drivers of violence and interventions to reduce violence among displaced and host populations in urban areas, who likely face a different set of challenges due to the complex infrastructure, sociopolitical context, and service provision systems found in cities.